This invention relates to planters and methods of planting, and in particular to planters for, and methods of, planting custom plots with different types of seeds.
Modern planters have developed to the point where they can reliably simultaneously plant twelve or more rows as the planter traverses a field. With such planters large fields can be quickly planted. However, with existing planters it can be difficult to plant small plots, such as are planted during seed tests. When it is desired to plant small plots of different types of seeds, for example when planting test plots of different seed varieties, seeds of a first variety must be loaded into the hoppers of the individual planting units on the planter, and the planter traversed across the field to plant a first plot. After the first plot is completed, the planter must be stopped so that the first variety of seeds can be manually removed from the hoppers and a new variety of seed loaded in the hopper. This process must be repeated each time a plot of a new variety of seed is desired.
When planting test plots, relatively skilled personnel are typically involved in either performing or supervising the complex task of manually changing the seeds in the planters, to ensure that the proper seeds are used. For widespread field testing, skilled personal must be widely deployed, wasting valuable time and increasing costs.